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A rather interesting foursome teed off for a round of golf in Florida this weekend: President Donald Trump was joined by college football coaching legends Urban Meyer and Nick Saban, and perhaps more importantly, a former rival by the name of Gov. Ron DeSantis.

It would go too far to say that Trump and DeSantis have had bad blood, but there has been a rift since the Florida governor’s 2023 primary challenge to Trump, which petered out in New Hampshire before primary votes had even been cast.

To see Trump and DeSantis spending a few hours engaged in what Mark Twain once called a ‘good walk spoiled’ leads to an interesting question: After the ace Florida governor leaves office next year, could he be a hole in one for the Trump administration?

DeSantis is the kind of guy who Trump could put in charge of basically anything in the federal government and fully expect not just his signature competence, but his calm and no-nonsense manner.

In recent weeks, calm is something the administration has been thirsting for.

After DeSantis dropped out in early 2024, the schism in the conservative commentariat more or less was cleaved, notwithstanding some fairly bitter vitriol that had consumed the previous year, and the governor can still be an important buttress to GOP unity.

There has been a frustration, especially from former DeSantis supporters, of late, that the White House has been too tolerant of extreme views from figures in its orbit. The best answer to that is not to cancel supposed cancers but to bolster the administration’s credibility.

I don’t know what DeSantis’s middle name is, but I would not be surprised to find that it is ‘crediblity.’ With the possible exception of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, no leader in America, maybe the world, handled COVID better.

The knock on DeSantis is that, credible though he may be, he’s not particularly compelling. He does not, in the parlance of entertainment, chew up the scenery. I remember spending much of the spring of 2023 thinking, as he geared up for the presidential run, ‘Less talking, more throwing the baseball around.’

But, to be frank, the Trump administration has a sufficient current supply of colorful characters.It needs more competence, more Lee Zeldins and Scott Bessents.

In a column for the Washington Examiner this week, Byron York asked whether it is time for Trump to shake up his cabinet. Wherever one stands on that interesting political question, you do have to ask, who could the Senate confirm as a new member?

Let’s say Attorney General Pam Bondi, or Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who have been lightning rods for criticism, leave their positions. I’m not advocating for that, but should it happen, DeSantis is one of a few prominent Republicans who could sail through Senate confirmation.

The subtext to all of this, including the round of golf that I’m just going to go ahead and assume Trump won, is the 2028 presidential election, in which DeSantis is one of only a handful of figures who rate among the public.

The polls, early though they are, show Vice President JD VanceJD Vance with a big lead, especially given that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has all but endorsed him. But for now, DeSantis is the most viable GOP option who is not already in the administration or related to Trump.

While politically this may be a reason for the Florida governor to eschew an administration position, to remain the Republican who isn’t seen in the Oval Office day after day fawning over Trump, a national position could be great for him, and for the party.

And honestly, where is DeSantis supposed to go after leaving office, if not Washington?

Whether the 19th hole of this golf outing with Trump and football royalty turns out to be a position in the administration or not, Republicans should rejoice to see these two conservative leaders hanging out.

Unity must be the watchword for Republicans both in this year’s midterms and in the presidential race of 2028. In both cases, DeSantis can be a voice for common sense, competence and American values.

America needs all the good leadership it can get in Washington, and DeSantis is the poster child for it. Trump should seriously consider giving him a prominent national platform.

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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton clashed with a Czech political leader at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday.

Clinton was speaking during a panel on the state of the West where she heavily criticized President Donald Trump for his dealings with Europe. Petr Macinka, a Czech deputy prime minister, defended the Trump administration as Clinton repeatedly mocked his statements and tried to speak over him.

‘First, I think you really don’t like him,’ Macinka said as he began to respond to Clinton’s Trump-bashing.

‘You know, that is absolutely true,’ Clinton said. ‘But not only do I not like him, but I don’t like what he’s actually doing to the United States and the world, and I think you should take a hard look at it if you think there is something good that will come of it.’

‘Well, what Trump is doing in America, I think that it is a reaction. Reaction for some policies that really went too far, too far from the regular people,’ Macinka said as Clinton interjected to ask for examples.

Macinka referenced ‘woke’ ideologies, gender theories and cancel culture that ran rampant throughout the U.S. in recent years.

Clinton then mocked him, suggesting he was opposed to ‘women getting their rights.’

WATCH: Hillary Clinton makes STUNNING admission on migration

Macinka then rebuffed her hostility, saying he can tell he was making her ‘nervous.’

The exchange came during the same panel where Clinton discussed immigration in the U.S., admitting that it had gone ‘too far.’

‘It went too far, it’s been disruptive and destabilizing, and it needs to be fixed in a humane way with secure borders that don’t torture and kill people and how we’re going to have a strong family structure because it is at the base of civilization,’ she added.

Clinton acknowledged that there are places where a physical barrier is appropriate but opposed large-scale expansion of a border wall during her 2016 presidential campaign.

At the time, she supported then-President Barack Obama’s executive actions that deferred immigration enforcement against millions of children and parents in the country illegally and wanted to end the practice of family detention.

Clinton also planned on continuing Obama’s policy of deporting violent criminals, but wanted to scale back immigration raids, which she said at the time produced ‘unnecessary fear and disruption in communities,’ Fox News Digital previously reported.

Fox News’ Ashley DiMella contributed to this report.

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., vowed Sunday that Senate Democrats will block the latest GOP-backed effort to require proof of citizenship to vote.

‘We will not let it pass in the Senate,’ Schumer told CNN’s Jake Tapper. ‘We are fighting it tooth and nail. It’s an outrageous proposal that is, you know, that shows the sort of political bias of the MAGA right. They don’t want poor people to vote. They don’t want people of color to vote because they often don’t vote for them.’

Schumer’s comments came after Tapper pressed him on his opposition, noting that polling shows roughly 83% of Americans support some form of voter identification. That figure comes from a Pew Research poll published last year that found 71% of Democratic voters surveyed supported presenting an ID to vote.

Still, Schumer and most Senate Democrats have criticized the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which passed the House last week and is expected to face a vote in the Senate.

The bill would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and would establish a system for state election officials to share information with federal authorities to verify voter rolls. It would also allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to pursue immigration cases if noncitizens are found listed as eligible voters.

Schumer and his caucus have panned the bill as voter suppression targeting poorer Americans and minority groups.

‘What they are proposing in this so-called SAVE Act is like Jim Crow 2.0,’ Schumer said. ‘They make it so hard to get any kind of voter ID that more than 20 million legitimate people, mainly poorer people and people of color, will not be able to vote under this law.’

Without support from Senate Democrats — save for a possible defection from Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. — the bill is likely to fail.

The only way around that would be eliminating the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold — a move Republicans oppose — or forcing a so-called talking filibuster that could require hours of debate and stall other Senate business.

Schumer also pushed back on comments from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who earlier this week said elections ‘may be one of the most important things that we need to make sure we trust, is reliable, and that when it gets to Election Day that we’ve been proactive to make sure that we have the right people voting, electing the right leaders to lead this country.’

The comments come as Senate Democrats and the White House negotiate funding for DHS, which has been shut down since midnight Friday.

Part of those negotiations includes Democrats’ demand that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents be kept away from several areas, including schools and polling places.

‘That’s a load of bull,’ Schumer said. ‘They show no evidence of voter fraud. They show there’s so little in the country. And to have ICE agents, these thugs, be by the polling places, that just flies in the face of how democracy works, of how we’ve had elections for hundreds of years, very successfully.’

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PEORIA, AZ — San Diego Padres All-Star third baseman Manny Machado, having watched the bitter rival Los Angeles Dodgers dominate the NL West – and enter the season with a payroll exceeding $400 million – not only declined to criticize the Dodgers’ expenditures, but praised the organization.

“I (expletive) love it,’ Machado said Sunday morning. “I think every team should be doing it. They’re figured out a way to do it, and the (stuff) is (expletive) great for the game honestly. I think every team has the ability to do it. So, I hope all 30 teams could learn from it.’

The Dodgers will enter the season with a payroll nearly twice as much as the Padres’ payroll of about $220 million, but Machado believes that a salary cap will hurt the game.

“I think our game is very good at what we’re doing,’ Machado said. “There’s a lot of money being made. Look at what’s going on with the game. The last five years, it’s been great.

“So, I think a lot of teams have the ability to do what the Dodgers are doing. We started it a few years ago with [late owner] Peter [Seidler], so everyone could do it. It’s just a matter if they want to or not.’

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

After a 79-75 win over Georgetown on Feb. 14, Hurley and Hoyas coach Ed Cooley were surprised by the lack of enthusiasm in Storrs.

‘Very tough place to play. Honestly, I was surprised there was empty seats up in the section,’ Cooley told reporters after the game. ‘I mean, you’ve got a national championship team. This place should be sold out every day. That actually shocked me … This place should’ve been bouncing off the wall on a Saturday night with a team that’s out there like that. That’s just what I saw.’

Hurley had no interest in disabusing Cooley of that notion. He also called out the UConn faithful for its showing on Valentine’s Day in a lengthy response.

‘I’ve kind of given up on [hyping up the crowd],’ Hurley said when he was asked about Cooley’s comments. ‘I’ve done that. I don’t get the same response.’ He added UConn is the self-appointed ‘Basketball Capital of the World’ and it doesn’t reflect that.

After rattling off his impressive resume with UConn, Hurley mentioned a few places that do live up to their crowd billings. ‘The section behind our basket was empty,’ he said. ‘It should be a madhouse when we play here at the ‘Basketball Capital of the World’ for our games … Xavier’s a madhouse when we go there. Creighton is a madhouse. When we play St. John’s now in the Big East road game, that’s not Storrs South no more. That environment that we played in was a serious, serious nasty environment. Intense environment. We were at a major disadvantage in terms of the atmosphere. I could go to Kansas and some of these different places that we play.’

Hurley signed off by saying he doesn’t question his own standing.

‘I got some [expletive] equity,’ he said. ‘I got two national championships here in the last three years. And we’ve given you the season that there’s a lot of programs across the country that’s fans wish they had going. So I’m not doing that anymore. I ask the players to try to do it. You don’t come to watch the game, it’s not a [expletive] social event … It needs to be a madhouse.’

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

MILAN — Even though Ilia Malinin did not win a medal in the men’s Olympic figure skating competition, he will perform in the popular skating gala, the last of the Olympic figure skating events, on Saturday, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

Watch the Olympics on Peacock

It is almost unheard of for an eighth-place skater in any of the four Olympic disciplines to be invited to skate in the closing gala, a show-style exhibition in which skaters are not judged and are simply performing for the audience. Usually only the Olympic medalists perform, with the occasional fourth-place finisher or skater from the host nation included. 

But Malinin, known as the ‘Quad God,” is so popular in the sport that organizers decided to include him despite his poor performance in the men’s long program Friday night, in which he fell twice and made mistakes on other jumps to finish a devastating eighth. It was the worst performance by a gold-medal favorite in Olympic figure skating history.

Malinin, 21, has won the last four U.S. championships and the past two world championships, and will be favored to win a third in Prague despite not winning a medal in Milan. 

USA TODAY at the Milano Cortina Games

USA TODAY Sports has a team of more than a dozen journalists on the ground in Italy to bring you behind the scenes with Team USA and keep you up to date with every medal win, big moment and triumphant finish. Get our Chasing Gold newsletter in your inbox every morning and join our WhatsApp channel to get the latest updates right in your texts.

The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics are off and running with 16 sports taking over 25 different venues. The games are exclusively airing across NBC’s suite of networks with many events airing live on its streaming service, Peacock, which you can sign up for here .

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INGLEWOOD, CA. — The NBA All-Star Game features the best the sport has to offer taking center stage. The question remains as to whether this beloved event still works as the league switches to a new format on Sunday.

The NBA will give it another go to see whether the competition and entertainment can reach a new level with the US vs. World format.

Three teams, comprising two U.S. rosters and one international roster, will compete in a round-robin tournament. From there, we will see who the best of the best is and whether the NBA has a successful format that will last into future seasons.

USA TODAY Sports has everything you need to enjoy the NBA All-Star Game, including updates, highlights and results for the event:

How to watch the NBA All-Star Game

  • When: Sunday, Feb. 15, 5 p.m. ET
  • Where: Intuit Dome (Inglewood, California)
  • Channel: NBC
  • Streaming: Peacock

Watch NBA All-Star Slam Dunk and 3-Point events on Peacock

Still plenty of empty seats inside the Intuit Dome

Now that we’re getting pretty close to tip-off, less than 15 minutes from now, fans are starting to trickle into their seats at the Intuit Dome. Yet, there are plenty of empty seats in both the upper and lower bowl as we near the first game of the event.

The NBA has faced criticism over the long-term viability of the All-Star Game, as a lack of competitiveness has characterized the event over recent seasons.

Stephen Curry gets up some shots

He may not be playing in the actual game because of a right knee injury, but he still made his presence known before the game.

After players had completed their on-court warmups, Curry spent around 10 minutes putting up shots in a relaxed and leisurely way. Wearing NBA All-Star sweats, Curry didn’t appear hampered by the injury and seemed to make the best of the situation, going over to dap up Spike Lee after he was done.

NBA All-Star Saturday results and recap

Damian Lillard — even as he’s recovering from an Achilles tear — made history and Heat forward Keshad Johnson danced his way to the Slam Dunk Contest title. Click here for a recap and highlights from NBA All-Star Saturday.

What is the new NBA All-Star format?

Each team will be divided into three teams with at least eight players each. Two of the teams will be made up of players from the United States (USA Stars and USA Stripes), and the third will feature international players. (Team World).

Games will be 12 minutes long, and each team will play every other team in the elimination rounds. If all teams end up with 1-1 records, teams with the highest point differential will play for the championship

  • Game 1: Team A vs. Team B
  • Game 2: Team C vs. Game 1 Winner
  • Game 3: Team C vs. Game 1 Loser
  • Game 4: Championship

NBA All-Star teams

USA STRIPES

  • Jaylen Brown, Boston
  • Jalen Brunson, New York
  • Kevin Durant, Houston
  • De’Aaron Fox, San Antonio
  • Brandon Ingram, Toronto
  • LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
  • Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers
  • Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland

USA STARS

  • Scottie Barnes, Toronto
  • Devin Booker, Phoenix
  • Cade Cunningham, Detroit
  • Jalen Duren, Detroit
  • Anthony Edwards, Minnesota
  • Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City
  • Jalen Johnson, Atlanta
  • Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia

TEAM WORLD

  • Deni Avdij, Portland
  • Luka Dončić, Los Angeles Lakers
  • Nikola Jokić, Denver
  • Jamal Murray, Denver
  • Norman Powell, Miami 
  • Alperen Şengün, Houston
  • Pascal Siakam, Indiana
  • Karl-Anthony Towns, New York
  • Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio

Stephen Curry (Golden State), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee), and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City) are injured and will not play in the game.

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CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Regardless of where Mikaela Shiffrin finished, her team got a win in the giant slalom.

On Sunday, Feb. 15, Shiffrin’s coach, Karin Harjo, became the first woman to set a course for an Olympic Alpine skiing event. Harjo set the course for the second run of the GS at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.

The person who sets the course determines its profile: Where the gates are and how they’re spaced, whether a course is straighter or more winding. Because a coach can set a course to suit his or her skier’s strengths, it’s a coveted assignment, one that is doled out on a rotating basis.

“This is for your daughter’s daughters,” Harjo said in a release from U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “We’re in 2026 and it’s the first time, but the reason is because of Mikaela. She set out to lift up women in sport, whether it’s competitors, coaches, workers. Through her greatness, she’s providing the opportunity for women to rise and pave a path for everybody behind us.”

Shiffrin finished 11th in the GS but was just 0.30 seconds from the podium. Paula Moltzan, the Olympic bronze medalist in the team combined with Jackie Wiles, was 15th while Nina O’Brien jumped up to 20th with the fastest time in the second run.

This isn’t the first time Harjo has broken barriers. She was the first woman to set a World Cup giant slalom course, last March, and also was the first woman to set a World Cup slalom course, in 2016.

‘Karin is an exceptional human being, leader and coach,’ Shiffrin said in a message to USA TODAY Sports. ‘I’m so inspired by the work she does. I’m confident it will also inspire the next generation of athletes and coaches.’

Shiffrin hired Harjo away from Canada, where she was only the second woman to be head coach of a national team, before the 2023-24 season. She did so because of Harjo’s skills – the two had worked together when Harjo was a U.S. assistant – but also because she wanted to put a spotlight on women in the sport.

“Sometimes there’s this unspoken question. Not something bad, but people will go, ‘Can she do it?’ It’s not about gender necessarily. But it does answer that question, yes, we can do it,” Harjo told USA TODAY Sports in March 2025, ahead of setting the World Cup GS course.

“Then it becomes a norm. Then you have other women coming in to lead teams, whether it’s for a discipline or a country. And that change becomes the norm.”

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Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), commonly known as Doctors Without Borders, suspended noncritical medical operations at Gaza’s Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, citing security concerns.

MSF said it made the decision, as of Jan. 20, due to concerns about the management of the hospital and what it described as a pattern of unacceptable incidents within the compound. 

The suspension had not been widely reported at the time, and it was not immediately clear when the decision was first publicly posted.

MSF’s frequently asked questions page, where the update appears, shows it was last revised on Feb. 11.

In recent months, the international medical humanitarian aid group said staff and patients have reported the presence of armed and sometimes masked men, intimidation, arbitrary arrests of patients and the suspected movement of weapons on hospital grounds.

‘While none of these incidents occurred in parts of the hospital compound where MSF works, they pose serious security threats to our teams and patients,’ MSF wrote on its website.

‘MSF formally expressed its strong concern to relevant authorities and emphasized the incompatibility of such violations with our medical mission. Hospitals must remain neutral, civilian spaces, free from military presence or activity, to ensure the safe and impartial delivery of medical care,’ the group continued. ‘MSF calls on all armed groups, Hamas, and Israeli forces to respect medical facilities and ensure the protection of civilians.’

In a statement issued Saturday, Nasser Hospital rejected what it called ‘false, unsubstantiated, and misleading allegations’ by MSF regarding the presence of weapons or armed groups inside the facility.

‘These allegations are factually incorrect, irresponsible, and pose a serious risk to a protected civilian medical facility. The Gaza Strip is under an extreme and prolonged state of emergency resulting from systematic attacks on civilian institutions,’ it said. ‘Under these conditions, isolated unlawful actions by uncontrolled individuals and groups have occurred across society, including attempts by some to carry weapons.’

Hospital officials said a civilian police presence had been arranged to help safeguard patients, staff and infrastructure and called on MSF to retract its claims and reaffirm its commitment to medical neutrality.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday on X that it has intelligence indicating Hamas is using Nasser Hospital as a headquarters and military post, reiterating long-standing allegations that the militant group embeds operations within civilian facilities in Gaza.

‘For over two years, the IDF and the defense establishment has warned about the cynical use by terrorist organizations in Gaza of hospitals and humanitarian shelters as human shields to conceal terrorist activity,’ it wrote.  

Hamas has previously denied using hospitals or other civilian facilities for military purposes.

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Standing in Germany, where a Cold War wall once symbolized the division of a continent, Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered President Donald Trump’s red line for Europe.

‘We in America have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West’s managed decline,’ Rubio said during his Friday remarks before the Munich Security Conference.

America’s top diplomat called for tighter borders, revived industry and a reassertion of national sovereignty, arguing that the West’s drift was not inevitable but the result of policy choices the Trump administration now intends to reverse.

‘We do not seek to separate, but to revitalize an old friendship and renew the greatest civilization in human history,’ he added, urging an alliance that ‘boldly races into the future.’

Rubio’s 3,000-word address marked one of the clearest articulations yet of Trump’s break with the global status quo. It underscored a broader shift in transatlantic ties, with Washington pressing European allies to shoulder more of their own defense and elevate national sovereignty.

He described the erosion of manufacturing, porous borders and dependence on global institutions as symptoms of Western complacency.

Reclaiming supply chain independence, enforcing immigration limits and rebuilding defense capabilities, he said, would be key to reversing course.

His remarks landed before an audience of European leaders who have long relied on U.S. security guarantees and remain wary of a more transactional Washington. 

The shift was striking in a forum that has traditionally served as a showcase for transatlantic unity, where U.S. officials in previous years stressed multilateral cooperation and institutional continuity.

Whether European capitals embrace that vision remains to be seen. But Rubio made clear that, under Trump, the U.S. no longer sees itself as the quiet steward of a fading order.

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